The Promise
by PicnicFanficnicAardvark
Summary: A childhood promise comes back to haunt Jesse.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I don't own Diagnosis Murder or any of it's characters.**

* * *

**Prologue**

_**Minnesota**_

"Hey! Are you even listening to me?!" A little girl with chestnut pigtails was standing, hands on hips, watching as a younger child with messy blonde hair ran around on the lawn, playing with his action figure and toy plane.

"Uh-uh" He managed between self-made sound effects of the plane colliding with the unfortunate plastic man.

"Good...Anyway, because we're best friends like my Mom and Daddy were when they were little, then we should make the same promise they did and..." The girl continued, then pouted when she realised her younger friends attention was now solely on the action figure and it's newly decapitated arm, "Jesse!" She whined, snatching the toy and it's limb off the boy and fixing it, "Now will you sit down and listen to me?"

"Macie...You made it not be broke anymore!" Jesse examined his toy in awe, "I thought only growed ups could do that..."

Macie rolled her eyes and sat down on the grass, dragging the little boy down next to her, "So...If we've not found anyone to get married to in twenty years time, then we'll marry each other...Promise?" She held out her hand so they could shake on it.

The little boy looked at her hand, then rolled over in a fit of giggles, "Only Mommy's and Daddy's get married silly."

With one hand Macie grabbed the small boy by the collar, pulled him to his feet, and pinned him against a wall, "I am not silly, take it back!" For a little girl, she was surprisingly intimidating.

"I take it back!" The little boy said quickly, the presence of fear was evident in his voice.

"Good...Now say you promise!"

"But I don't wanna get..."

She tightened her grip and snatched the toy plane out of his hand, "Say you promise Jesse Travis or I'll break this so bad that even a 'growed up' wouldn't be able to fix it!"

Two large blue eyes stared up at her in horror, "Ok I promise, I promise!"

Macie left go of his collar and gave the toy plane back to him, "You're the best friend ever!" She beamed, giving him a great big kiss on the cheek.

Jesse quickly wiped the kiss away in disgust, "Yuck!"

* * *

_**20 Years Later**_

Dr Jesse Travis walked in to the room with an amused look on his face as he read the patients file, "I gotta be honest with you...Miss Elliot, you're my first 'Toe-Stuck-In-Tap' patient." The young Doctor examined her foot, "I'm Dr Travis by the way."

"The Fireman who cut me free said the same thing."

"Tell me if this hurts." Jesse started to wiggle the womans toe about, "Anything?"

"My toe's pretty sore, but wiggling it isn't making the pain increase."

"Ok, well the good news is it's not broken."

"And the bad news?" She asked.

"I think you're gonna need a new tap..."

"Hey Jess, Have you seen my Dad around anywhere?" Lieutenant Steve Sloan asked as the young Doctor lead his patient out of the room.

"Mark's with a patient."

"Oh...How long do you think He'll..."

"Wait a minute..." The woman interrupted, "You're names Jesse...Jesse Tarvis?"

"Yeah..." He was having trouble working out what was so fascinating about his name.

"From Minnesota?"

Jesse looked at her in confusion, "Do I know you?"

"It's me...Macie!"

"Macie...?"

"Oh my...How long as it been?"

"Uh...?"

"Jesse, we have so much catching up to do!"

"I..."

"When does your shift end?"

The young Doctor looked at his watch, "In about an hour or so..."

"Great! We'll have dinner once you're done here." She beamed, "Isn't this exciting?!"

Jesse stared at her with a blank look on his face, "We will...?" Then he suddenly remembered he was having dinner at the Sloan's Beach House, "Oh sorry...I'm having dinner at a friend's house tonight...Maybe we..."

"Ok great, I'll hang around here and wait for your shift to end, and then you can show me the way."

Jesse's jaw dropped, "Wait what?"

"I'm gonna get to meet your friends too...I can't wait!" She started to walk away, "I'll see you later!"

"But..." Jesse stared after her.

"You have no idea who she is...Do you?" Steve wasn't even trying to hide the smirk on his face.

"Not a clue." The younger man admitted.

"So...When are you telling my Dad he's cooking for five people tonight, instead of four...?"


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

_**Minnesota**_

A flash of jealousy spread across Macie's face when she saw a young boy with short sandy coloured hair approaching; he looked to be in-between the ages of Jesse and herself, "Go away Dylan Matterson, nobody here wants to play with you!"

"But I do..." Jesse piped up, "Ow!" He cried out when she elbowed him in the shoulder.

"Macie leave him alone, he's just a little kid!"

She went all innocent looking, "I didn't do anything."

"Yeah you did, and you pinned him against the wall too, I saw you." Dylan turned to the younger boy, "You don't have to do what Macie says Jesse, she's not your Mom."

Jesse's face lit up, "You mean I don't have to marry her!?"

Dylan screwed up his face, "Marry her?! No way!"

"Yeah he does, Jesse promised he would..." Macie gave a smug smile, "And you can't break a promise."

Dylan looked at Jesse, "Did you really promise to marry her?" Jesse nodded, "Why...?"

"Because I like my plane not being broked..."

"Aw Jesse, I would have just asked my Dad to make you a new one...In fact, my Dad said I can make something all on my own, and you can help if you wanna!"

Jesse's face lit up, "Really?!"

"Sure...Come on!"

"Hey!" Macie yelled, tugging him one way "Jesse's playing with me!"

"No he's not, he's playing with me!" Dylan tugged him the other way,

"Can't we just all play together?" Jesse asked; sighing as his questioned gained a unanimous "No".

"He has to play with me!"

"No he doesn't Macie, he can play with whoever he wants to."

The little girl gave a smug look, "Ok then, let's ask him who he'd rather play with then."

"Fine."

The two of them looked at the younger boy expectantly.

"Who do you wanna play with Jesse, me...Or dumb boring Dylan?" Macie smirked, it was so obvious that Jesse was going to pick he...

"Dylan."

The young girls face contorted with anger; she went to grab Jesse, but Dylan stood in front of him, "He picked me Macie, so go away." Dylan held Jesse's wrist and tugged him away gently, "Come on, my Dad's got all the stuff we'll need set up in the garage for us."

"No!" Macie yelled, grabbing Jesse's other wrist and jerking him back towards her.

"Ow!" Jesse cried out in pain.

Dylan glared at her, "That's it, I'm telling on you Macie!"

Macie rubbed her arm hard across the wall, causing a graze to appear, then held her arm up to show him, "If you tell on me, I'll say you did that."

"Yeah? Well Jesse's here too, and he saw you do it!"

"So? Jesse's not gonna tell on me, he's to scared."

Dylan looked at Jesse, who was looking down at the floor in a bid to avoid eye contact...Macie was right; Dylan gritted his teeth, "Fine...I won't tell."

Macie smirked, "Now come on Jes..."

"Macie!" Came a womans yell.

Dylan smirked back, "Your Mom's shouting...Guess you're not playing with Jesse afterall."

"She's not my Mom!" Macie yelled as she strolled away.

"Yeah, whatever." He turned to Jesse who was looking rather guilty and grinned, "Race you to the garage!"

"Hey, you didn't even say 'go'!" Jesse ran after him, "Dylan...Wait!"

* * *

**Present Day.**

Jesse rushed up to his friend and mentor, Dr Mark Sloan as he headed towards the Nurses Station, "Oh Mark, let me help you with those!"

Mark looked at him in confusion, "Those? Jesse it's just one file."

Jesse took the file regardless, "Yeah, but when you think of all the other files you've probably carried today...You really deserve a rest."

A few steps later they were at the Nurses Station, "Well, here we are...Thanks for the help Jesse."

"No problem..." The young Doctor gave an awkward smile, knowing full well how much of a loser he must have been looking to the older man right now, _Just ask Mark if WhatsHerName can come to dinner already!_, "Hey Mark..."

"Yeah?"

"I...Really like what you're wearing...It suits you...Brings out your eyes."_ Almost._

"Jesse...I'm wearing scrubs."

The younger mans eyes widened _Damnit!_, "Yeah...But still you look really smart...And clean..." _Clean!? Seriously?!_

Mark smirked, "Ok Jesse, what do you need...?"

"Need...Me? What Makes you think I need anything?" Jesse laughed him off, "Can't a friend just pay another friend a compli..."

"Sometime today Jess..."

"Uh well...I may have accidentally invited an old 'friend' over to your place for dinner tonight...Although I'm not exactly sure how I managed to do so."

Mark grinned, "Uh-uh...So, does this old friend have a name."

"Yeah...She did say what it was...I think it began with an 'N'...or was it 'M'...?" He wasn't usually so bad with names, but then again she didn't exactly give him chance to think.

"You don't know her name?"

"Yeah...That's the thing, I don't remember her exactly...In fact, I've been wracking my brain for the past half hour trying to figure out who she is...But I just keep drawing a blank."

"So let me get this straight...You've invited a girl who you don't actually know to my house for dinner...?"

Jesse looked mortified, "Oh Mark I'm so sorry, what was I thinking? I'll uninvite uh..." _What the hell did she say her name was?!_

"Macie."

"Right Macie!" _Thank you Mark!_, "I'll uninvite Macie to dinner at your Beach Ho...How did you know her name?" Jesse noticed the amused look on Mark's face, "Wait...Did you already know?"

"Steve may have mentioned something."

"You mean you let me go through all that for nothing?!"

"It's been a boring day...I need to get my entertainment from somewhere Jess." The young Doctor rolled his eyes in response, and Mark gave him a friendly shoulder squeeze, "...And of course Macie's welcome to have dinner at the Beach House."

Jesse gave a sigh of relief, "Thanks Mark."_At least now I don't have to go through the trouble of uninviting her to the dinner I didn't even invite her to in the first place; _Jesse squeezed the bridge of his nose...All this 'Reunion' crap was giving him a headache.

* * *

One awkward car ride with a passenger reminiscing about a time in his life that Jesse didn't even remember, one _"You've already met Steve..."_ and two introductions later, Macie was passing around old photographs of a very young looking Jesse, much to everybodys enjoyment...Well everybodys except Jesse's that is. In fact it couldn't help but feel kind of weirded out that she carried photographs of himself around with her...Especially after so many years.

It was definitely Jesse in the photographs though, he knew that for a fact, although it didn't help him to remember at all.

"Aw, you look so adorable in that t-shirt Jesse." His friend and colleage Dr Amanda Livingston held the photo up to him.

Macie started to chuckle, "Oh that t-shirt...Jesse loved that t-shirt...He never wanted to take it off...Isn't that right Jesse?"

"Uh...Yeah?" He knew he should tell her that he has no clue who she is, but the more time that passed, the more foolish he felt about admitting it.

Steve pointed at one of the photographs, "Who's he?"

"Oh that's Dylan, no idea how he managed to sneak onto that photo...The two of us tried to keep our distance from him, he was a trouble maker...Isn't that right Jesse?"

Jesse had no recollection of anyone named Dylan either...Although he couldn't shake the feeling that Macie's account of him wasn't exactly accurate, "I...Don't remember him...Sorry."

There was something quite unnerving to Jesse about the smile that appeared on Macie's face after he'd said that.

"I'm not surprised you don't remember him...I'd want to forget him too if he'd treated me as horribly as he treated you Jesse." Macie frowned, "I couldn't tell you how many times I found myself stood in front of Jesse, trying to stop Dylan from hitting him."

Amanda shook her head, "Sometimes children can be so cruel...But at least you were lucky enough to have someone like Macie to stick up for you...Hey Jesse?"

"Yeah..." Jesse answered...Although somehow he wasn't so sure about that.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Minnesota**

The two boys raced up the hill towards Dylan's house, as they reached the top the older boy looked back; seeing that his younger friend was trailing and looking pretty wiped out, Dylan knelt down, "Jesse hop on, I'll give you a piggyback ride the rest of the way."

"Ok!" Jesse beamed enthusiastically, getting onto the older boys back...He loved piggyback rides even more than rolling down hills.

"Hold on tight!" Dylan instructed as he ran the best he could to his father's garage...However that task was more difficult than before, "Hey, whatever we make is just between you and me OK? It'll be ours and nobody elses...Especially not Macie's."

Macie walked around like she owned the place...Well this was one thing she wasn't going to be 'the boss' of.

"OK...But I don't think Macie's gonna like that one bit." Jesse shuddered at the thought of what she might do.

"So what...I don't like her one bit either." And he meant it; ever since she'd moved in she'd be nothing but trouble as far as he was concerned.

Yelling could be heard in the distance, and Jesse turned back, "Maybe Macie would be nicer if her Mommy and Daddy didn't yell at her so much?"

"Nah...She's too mean to be nice." The older boy answered, "Hey look, we're almost there."

"I don't think she means to be mean." Jesse looked forward again, "What are we making?"

"My Dad said we can make whatever we want...Within reason."

"What does that mean?"

"I don't know...I guess it means it can't be bigger than the garage."

"Yeah...I don't think your daddy'll be happy if it takes up all the space."

"Exactly."

* * *

**Present Day.**

Jesse wasn't enjoying his meal at the Sloan's Beach House as much as he usually would...In fact he wasn't enjoying being there at all. He knew he had to tell Macie that he didn't remember her, but the longer he went on pretending, the harder it seemed to be.

Having absolutely no recollection of her struck Jesse as a little odd...If it wasn't for the photographs then he'd probably be wondering if they really did know each other; then again...He was surprised the photograph's didn't help to at least spark some sort of a memory.

Or maybe that was it...Maybe the photograph's didn't help because he didn't want them too...Maybe he didn't want to remember her; afterall She could be some crazy-ass chick for all he knew.

He looked around at his friends...Well if she was crazy, they certainly seemed to be enjoying her company regardless.

Knowing it wouldn't be long before his friends noticed he wasn't joining in, the young Doctor decided it was time to tune back in to whatever conversation they'd been having...Although he had no doubt it was probably another embarrassing story about himself..._Man, this evening sucks!_

"...You and Jesse must've been really close friends." Amanda smiled.

"Yeah...You know we even made a promise to each other once that if we wasn't married in 20 years time, we'd marry each other." She smiled fondly, "...Now I come to think of it, it actually has been 20 years," She looked at Jesse, "and neither of us are married..."

Jesse spit out his drink and started to cough.

"Hey, are you alright Jess?" Steve asked, hitting his friends back.

"Uh..Yeah." Jesse coughed, "I'm fine..." He looked down at his now soiled t-shirt, "But my clothes aren't." He made a hasty retreat to the bathroom.

Steve got up after him, "Jess...I'll get you one of my shirts...Excuse me."

* * *

"Steve I'm telling you...She's come back to marry me...It makes perfect sense now." They were in the lower part of the Beach House, out of sight and ear range from Mark, Amanda and especially Macie; Jesse however kept his voice low regardless of this as he changed his own t-shirt for Steve's baggier one.

"Oh come on Jess...I'm sure she was just fooling around...I mean she'd have to be crazy..." On Jesse's look Steve added, "You think she's crazy?" Jesse nodded, "And you're basing this on the fact that you can't remember someone from when you we're a small child?"

"Well why else would I be having such a hard time remembering her?"

"Oh I don't know...Perhaps it's because you were a 'small child'."

The sarcasm in the older mans voice was not lost on Jesse.

"Is everything alright?" Amanda asked, "Everyone's waiting for you two...It's almost time to dish out dessert." She knew the announcement of dessert would have Jesse rushing straight back to the dining area.

She was wrong, he made no attempt to move at all.

"Jesse thinks Macie's a mad woman who wants to marry him because of a promise they made 20 years ago."

Jesse shot Steve a look.

Amanda raised an eyebrow at that, "You can't honestly believe she was being serious...Can you?" On Jesse's look, Amanda shook her head, "Oh Jesse...Don't be ridiculous."

"Well don't you think it's a little too coincidental that she just happens to turn up 20 years after we made that so-called promise?" Why couldn't his friends see it? It wasn't like they'd never dealt with 'crazies' before.

"Jesse, Community General's full of Doctors...How did she know you would be the one to treat her?" Amanda asked.

"Uh...Well..." That was actually a fair point.

"See." She looked suitably smug; truth was, Amanda liked Macie...Had done since the moment she'd met her.

"Ok then...Why does she carry around a bunch of old photograph's of me?" The young Doctor wasn't ready to give up yet.

"Jesse they were photograph's of herself...You just happened to be on them."

That was true...Macie was on all the photographs aswell "Ok, I guess you're right...She still seems kinda crazy though...Don't you think?" Surely Amanda wouldn't be able to deny that fact.

"The only person who's acting crazy around here is you Jesse." Amanda scolded, "Talking about that nice woman behind her back and unfairly judging her when you haven't even had the decency to tell her that you can't remember who she is."

Well...When she put it like that...Jesse looked down, "You're probably right..."

"I know I'm right...Now hurry up you two...Everyone's waiting." She made her way back to were Mark and Macie were.

Jesse started to follow, but Steve stopped him, "Hey Jess...If it'll make you feel any better about Macie, I could always do a background check..."

Jesse looked at Amanda and then shook his head at Steve's offer, "No...That's OK."

Amanda would never let him hear the last of it if he did that.


End file.
